One of the premier youth soccer tournaments in Virginia, the Jefferson Cup, has released the names of girls teams accepted for 2012 tournament play.
The Jefferson Cup will be played in the Richmond, VA area and is partnered with SportsQuest. According to the official Jefferson Cup website, the tournament was rated No.

One of the premier youth soccer tournaments in Virginia, the Jefferson Cup, has released the names of boys teams accepted for 2012.
The Jefferson Cup will be played in the Richmond, VA area and is partnered with SportsQuest. According to the official Jefferson Cup website, the tournament was rated No.

The U.S. team hit the turf inside The Home Depot Center stadium again today as it continues its prep for the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament taking place entirely on artificial turf from Jan. 19-29 at BC Place in Vancouver.
All the U.S. matches will be televised live on the Universal Sports Network.

Stories of loud and obnoxious soccer parents are not hard to come by. We've all encountered them, though in my experience they're not as widespread as the media would lead you to believe. When you do encounter them, it's usually a couple of parents being loud and/or obnoxious while the other parents behave (and often try to get as far away from the loud ones as possible).

Which I'm sure is a massive relief to the players from Southern California, not to mention the fans. The 8 p.m. March 7 quarterfinal will be played at the Rogers Centre, which has a retractable roof. The bad news: the game will be played on artificial turf, but at least

I asked U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati about Seattle and Portland over the weekend, and he pointed out that the artificial turf fields in both cities present some issues. "We haven't played any qualifiers in quite some time on surfaces where we have to lay down sod, so that makes it a little bit tricky," Gulati said.

The age-old debate about playing on natural grass versus an artifical surface doesn't seem to be as controversial as it was 10-years ago.
A large part of that may be with the new technological advances in the new field turf, as well as the large growth of artificial fields all over the United States.

TFC pulled off the win over Tauro FC, so lets see what Seattle can do in their CONCACAF Champions League clash versus Herediano. It should be a tougher test.
Sounders lineup: GK Keller, D Scott, D Ianni, D Hurtado, D Gonzalez, M Carrasco, M Sanyang, M Neagle, M Levesque, F Jaqua, F Noonan.

Do you remember the last regular season match the Portland Timbers won at home? If you don't I certainly won't blame you... The last regular season home win for the Timbers came on May 21st, almost 2 and a half months ago against the Columbus Crew. What happened? Where did the energy go? I'm going to have a editorial on the Timbers continuing struggles later today, but suffice it to say, I firmly believe that going this long without winning at home isn't acceptable.

The lockout is over, but fans on talk radio yesterday indicated they are through with supporting the NFL. This is typical rhetoric from distraught fans after lockouts and strikes, except for one factor, there were no games missed. Have fans reached a level of frustration that may carry over and influence a leveling off of popularity?

It seems that captain Fabricio Coloccini and top Ivory Coast midfielder Cheick Tiote, are both doubtful for tonight's game against the Columbus Crew in Ohio. Paul Dummett will likely play tonight Ryan Taylor picked up a groin injury early in the game against Orlando City on Friday evening, on the artificial turf surface, and [.

About Saturday's U.S.-Panama clash: Will we see the same American center back combo as Bob Bradley's boys clash with stubborn little ol' Panama? Will fast Freddy Adu get into the 18? Will Tim Howard be a regular badass in goal, or a super badass? I don't have answers to these vexing questions.

But I know this for darn sure:

The field at Raymond James Stadium will be far superior to that beleaguered little ragamuffin of a pitch the United States and Canada had to endure on Tuesday.

Ford Field, the home of the Detroit Lions was a cesspool of lumpy divots which caused the ball to slow down considerably or take an awkward bounce. The stadium's surface is an artificial turf over which was carpeted over by bales of natural grass for the Gold Cup. The field was partly responsible for a match that was never free flowing.

It seems generally accepted in the MLS community, if not the US Soccer community, that soccer specific stadiums are key to the growth of soccer in the USA.

The reasons are many, and include everything from the emotionally-relevant display of faith in the sport in this country, to the very practical ownership of parking and other associated revenue streams.

Maurice Edu takes a shot during training.
Last night the U.S. took to the temporary grass installed inside Ford Field for a 45-minute training session; the only on the field prior to opening the Gold Cup. After a warm-up, the team got into formation to review some tactics and then also worked on corner kicks before doing some positional drills and finishing.

Fully aware that Nery Castillo's option was declined. That isn't surprising news so the lead-off today in the Smolderings is profiles on the currently starting central midfielders: Corben Bone and Daniel Paladini.

Charlie Corr of ESPN's Chicago Fire Blog covered Corben Bone

Bone saw his fellow draft teammates getting significant playing time, as goalkeeper Sean Johnson and defenders Steven Kinney and Kwame Watson-Siriboe each logged 10 or more games last season.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

Through the early stages of this 2011 season, Philadelphia Union striker Danny Mwanga has seemingly epitomized the phrase "sophomore slump."

After notching seven goals last season en route to being a Rookie of the Year finalist, Mwanga has started just four of his eight games played this year.

The Greenwood Blue Jays hold their first ever Women's Alumni game today at the Greenwood Stadium Field. Game time is 11 am, head over to Lake Country Soccer to support.

The Central Federal/Rolla Girls Classic has been called off today but the Kansas City teams get to play on artificial turf at Ozark and Harrison Stadium respectively.

J Hutcherson of US Soccer Player Newsletter writes of the 2011 MLS season kick-off between the Los Angeles Galaxy and Seattle Sounders.
Other than an unnecessary reminder that wet conditions and artificial turf might not be the best platform for flowing soccer, Tuesday's Major League Soccer opener didn't exactly give us much to work with.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 16, 2011) US Soccer Players -- Other than an unnecessary reminder that wet conditions and artificial turf might not be the best platform for flowing soccer, Tuesday's Major League Soccer opener didn't exactly give us much to work with. Sure, it's nice to see the teams on the field with points on the line, but the bigger stories were about who was absent.

Most people would say that CD Saprissa's artificial turf gives them a significant home advantage. But Saprissa's stadium has always been intimidating to visiting teams in the days when it still had a grass surface. Assuming everything else equal, how significant is the difference in match results from the grass pitch and artificial pitch eras?

More and more clubs, schools communities are installing artificial turf for their soccer fields. The benefits are obvious in terms of maintenance and year-round use. However, one question that keeps coming up is "are these fields safe for the players?" The concern is that players are at risk of knee and ankle injuries by playing on the "plastic stuff".

-
Enlarged Photo of the Boys of 1907-1908
-
-Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard...Also Follow: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
_____________________________________________________________________________________
- Gary Borrowdale Joins Carlisle on Loan.

A common complaint of players who play on "play on plastic" is that they feel much more tired compared to playing on natural grass. In fact, a study reviewed here (link) found that many players have a negative perception of artificial turf. They feel that turf is was more physically taxing and more technically demanding.